Although the meaning of Christmas goes far beyond the trappings of wrapping paper and gifts, it is nice to give and receive presents this time of the year.
This year the girls each gifted me with things I will treasure for the rest of my life.
Chitter gave me the elephant carving in the photo above. When I first opened it I was sort of confused because although elephants are great they are not my favorite animal by a couple dozen country miles.
I did immediately notice how well the piece was carved and I also noticed the smooth buttery finish that is a hallmark of early pieces made by the Brasstown Carvers.
Brasstown Carver Ben Hall carved the piece. Chitter said it was likely done in the 1940s. I didn’t even know the local group carved elephants! But Chitter knew they did and when she saw the piece she knew she wanted to get it for me and I’m sure glad she did!
The carving is meaningful to me because I know the story of the Brasstown Carvers, and of course I love that Chitter wanted to gift it to me even though she adores their carvings and it would have been a dandy addition to her collection. There’s one more reason I love it.
The subject matter of the carving shows that although folks in rural Appalachia in the 40s may have been lacking some of the modern technology more populated areas had, they certainly knew about elephants, even though they weren’t native to the area, and they also understood carving them would appeal to a wider audience of buyers, not to mention the great craftsmanship it took to carve such an elephant. In other words, the elephant is another symbol that folks in Appalachia weren’t always as backwoods and uneducated as they were often portrayed.
Chatter also surprised me with her gift.
When I opened the beautiful quilt I was stunned. I said who made it? Chatter said “You’ve seen it before don’t you remember?” I tried hard to remember but told her she must be mistaken.
She assured me she wasn’t.
Back in the summer Chatter and I took Granny out to her mother’s house. I guess it’s been ten years since she’d been there. The place is in really bad shape and much of what’s left in it is too. We were able to take a few old quilts home. I knew they looked so pitiful that it wasn’t likely any of them would survive the wash and none of them did except the one Chatter took home which was only a quilt top.
Once it came out mostly intact Chatter decided she’d take it to our local quilt shop and see if they thought it was worth trying to save. They said it was and she left it in their capable hands.
I’m glad I didn’t remember the quilt top. Opening the present and hearing Chatter tell the story of getting it fixed for me brought tears of joy to my eyes.
The beauty of an old quilt and an old carving from days gone by made an already wonderful day even brighter.
Last night’s video: The Tradition of Oyster Stew on Christmas Eve in Appalachia.
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At Thanksgiving my youngest nephew was home with his wife and baby. I gifted him with a family heirloom that was precious to me. A cow bell and strap made by my maternal grandfather, that is who knows how old. I was born in 1959 and the bell was well worn even then. He almost cried when I told him the history. I even gave him a photo of one of grandma’s milk cows wearing it.
My mother gifted me a tin/aluminum???? carved bread bowl/platter??? thingy. It was my paternal great grandmother’s & was given to my grandma (her daughter- in-law). My grandma, in turn, gave it to my mother (her DIL) when my parents moved into my great grandmother’s homestead. It graced our holiday dinner table for years, but I never knew where it came from. This xmas season it finally became official that we own our home (my great grandmother’s farm) after 20 years of working on it in lieu of rent from my parents. It has been a long financial/emotional/familial/physical struggle that has threatened to tear our family apart at times. My mother, who is not overly sentimental, put in a card saying that now that we own the home, the platter should come back to where it belonged. I am sure it isn’t ‘worth’ anything, but it means a lot to me. Its funny…when you move into the original homeplace, people want to give you all sorts of things that used to be there. Our house was almost lost to taxes (after my gr.grandmother died) & they had a big estate sale. Things have come back to me that people bought to help my great uncle hold onto the place. The quilt is fabulous, but its even more fabulous that you have daughters that KNOW what you like. I have 2 girls like that, too, & it is a blessing! I never know what MY mother wants?????
Such AMAZING, BEAUTIFUL gifts from AMAZING, BEAUTIFUL young ladies! I’m sure you treasure them. My daughter gifted me with a picture musical jewelry box that she bought for my late Momma. I gave it to her after Momma’s passing since she bought it for Momma and she replaced the picture in it with a 4 generation picture of my late Granny, my late Momma, me and her. She made a nice card for the inside and gave it to me. I cried when I opened it, so did she. This is my first holiday season without my parents. It was quiet the emotional time for me. We were just a couple of bawl babies to say the least. I will treasure that jewelry box always.
You know what I love the most–is the fact that the girls took into account your personality and your favorite things. That makes it the most special
Precious gifts. Your girls certainly have good taste. The quilt is beautiful.
The girls gave you some really nice Christmas gifts. Gifts from the heart are the best ones. Dennis Morgan
Heavens! WHAT fantastic, meaningful gifts from the girls. And for them to be caring and sentimental, to know Mama would love and cherish these things. Wowww.
Precious gifts!
I use to quilt allllll the time and have more fabric than I can ever see myself out of! One day I’ll go back to it. Hard to tell exactly without seeing up close, but the fabrics in the quilt make it seem like it’s from 1960s – 70s. Could be older fabrics too, but they say always go by the newest fabric.
The elephant makes me think of the circus coming to town. Sad it is no more. That’s such a special and beautiful gift.
I think your carved elephant is very beautiful! I love elephants and always have. I instill Ringling Brothers and Barnum Bailey circus for that love since I saw them live in an arena when I was maybe 6. Fact: it takes nine YEARS for a baby elephant to be ready to be born. Fact: elephants grieve, pay tribute to their dead, have memories to last a lifetime like old watering holes, and they are very intelligent and loving animals. It’s eye candy to see such a wonderful piece! Thank you for that. (Id like to get a gander at the old quilt top too.) Such treasures near your door is just great!
Ever since finding Celebrating Appalachia and BP&A, I’ve been much impressed by how close you and the girls are. They are evidence that you and Matt and your extended family did a great job in raising them. They were very smart to have picked such great parents, grandparents and all their kith and kin 🙂 !
What beautiful thought filled gifts. I know you will always cherish them. Good girls❤️
Tipper, the Christmas gifts that the girls very clearly lovingly chose for you are wonderful. I’m not surprised that they were so thoughtful.
I’ve mentioned in an earlier post about the beautiful comforter that my mom and two sisters made for me one Christmas. That is a very cherished gift that I love even more now than when I received it since mom and my sister Linda have both passed on.
I grew up in a little village called Colliers, WV and myself and my four siblings all attended the elementary school there that was built in 1922. The school was demolished and replace with a new one in the 1980’s. My oldest brother Tom still lived in Colliers and obtained a large slate chalkboard when the school was taken down. He cut a piece of the slate into a 12 inch by 20 inch piece and framed it in old wood. He gifted it to me on Christmas. Tom too is gone now and every day I see that chalk board hanging in my kitchen.
One other cherished gift was given to me by my cousin Carolyn about 40 years ago. It was a framed picture of my Grandpa and Grandma Shuman’s farm. The old house is in the background with rows of standing corn on the hill behind the house. In the foreground is the barn that grandpa made of logs and the old horse drawn iron hay rake sits idly in the field. The farm is no longer in the family and the house and barn are gone now but that photo hangs in my bedroom and each time I look at it it brings back so many sweet memories of my childhood.
On another note, I enjoyed watching the video you shared about the recent skiff of snow that you had. Here in the northern panhandle of WV we also call it a “Skiff”. We had about 5 inches of snow which is typical here most years. But the cold temperatures were another thing. The water pipes froze in my house Christmas day. That was the first time that’s happened in the 46 years I’ve lived here. That evening the pipes burst and we had a mess in the laundry room. It made for a complicated Christmas day to say the least.
thats awesomethey are a really beautiful for you to have and great memories to go with them hope you and family have a good new year too greetings from christchurch new zealnd to all
Wonder gifts from wonderful girls who put a lot of thought into gifts for their momma.❤️
Blessings, TeresaSue.
So precious! Gifts from the heart. Those girls are treasures.
I like your gifts. I wish I had one of my grandmother’s old heavy quilts. I also loved Granny’s Christmas poems. If she can write poems that good, she ought to put them in a book and see about having them published.
Chitter and Chatter are wonderful “gift givers”; love the fact that each has an appreciation for regional craftsmanship. With every craft, you always receive a bit of the maker. Handmade gifts will always be a treasure; especially those from your own surroundings and the stories that accompany them. You and Matt have sure done well with those young ladies, Tipper. Be very proud!
Tipper you have built a wonderful community of commenters. That is a treasure for sure. I loved reading about everyone’s treasured gifts and always it went back to kindness and caring, for the makers and for the receivers. Your community loves sharing as they follow God’s command to care for others. I’m so very glad my brother led me to you and your virtual friends. It is a blessing to read as it is powerful to hear the stories and ‘feel’ good doing so.
Those are precious wondrous gifts. I’m thinking about each step that brought them to you, every life they’ve touched and the lives they will touch, that’s emotional and exciting.
What meaningful presents! The elephant has the sweetest expression on his face, and he looks like he could come alive any minute. The quilt is beautiful, and I love the colors. I’ve loved old things since I was a teenager.
A lady I had a deer lease on in west TN collected elephant statues, so every year I would take her on for her fireplace mantel.
one year I gave her one with the trunk down and I knew by the look that something was wrong. Finally she told me that the trunk needs to be up or it’s bad luck. so by the looks of it that’s a lucky elephant.
Beautiful gift to cherish from two beautiful and thoughtful daughters. You are blessed!
My mother had several tops that her grandmother had pieced. One of my sisters had them finished (quilted) and gave each of us one. I have a quilt pieced by my great grandmother and since I’m the oldest I’m the only one that remembers her. She was very short and had a dirt floor. She would give me peppermint candy that she made every time I visited.
Awesome! Gifts from the heart! Treasures for a lifetime!
My Aint Gene said it’s the stories that are priceless, not the dollar value of the gift that matters. The things I’ve kept over the years were mostly things our son made. They aren’t worth a penny to someone else but to me, they are worth more than a Rembrandt.
What beautiful and thoughtful gifts. You are blessed to have the girls. Take care and God bless ❣️
my great aunt married what was called a Showman, which meant he was a carney
The showpeople collected elephants as a symbol of good luck and happiness. I inherited several from him and was told they should always face East. what pleasure I too being gifted with a few of their prized possessions
Lovely gifts. I think I see a lot of feed sack fabric in that quilt. I love those designs.
What treasures! If only items could talk to us and tell their stories. What the person was like who carved the elephant; who wore the clothes that the quilt scraps came from…. My mother always said I was born in the wrong century 🙂 I think that is why I love vintage things. I want to know the stories behind them.
What beautiful, thoughtful gifts! You are blessed to have daughters that are so full of love and thoughtfulness!
Seeing your blog this morning made me think of two EXTRA special gifts this year. My sister gave me two old blue Ball canning jars that used to be my grandma’s. My sister had four and gave me two. I didn’t have anything of my grandma’s, one bc she had 10 kids, two bc she 40 grandkids and three I worked so much I couldn’t go to their spur of the moment coffee outings to Hardee’s where she’d get rid of stuff, (I learned recently.) The other special gift this Christmas….we dug out the 31 yr old Hobby Horse our boys used to have and gave it to our 1 yr old grandson. The blow mold was in excellent shape, and the frame too, but it was missing some rubber end caps that we had to replace. Our one yr grandson was put on it and he immediately started jumpin and making a hummin sound, so I grabbed for the phone and took a video. He did that for over a min straight……I’ll take that as, he loved it as much as you did your elephant carving and restored quilt Tipper!
Beautiful quilt; so glad Chatter was able to salvage it for you!
Did Granny get many cards this year?
Catherine-she did! Here’s a little video she had me do to thank people: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9hgzlOYLFj0 🙂
So beautiful and so thoughtful……with such meaning. Those gifts you will treasure forever. Christmas is such a good time for family and love sharing and making memories. Thank you for sharing the good times and love shared.
Your gifts are wonderful treasures for sure, but the real treasures are Chitter and Chatter.
Beautiful gifts!
Why do you call your mother granny I’m confused.
Rita-once the first grandchild came along we all started calling her Granny and my father Pap. It’s been so long now I don’t even remember who started it, but we joined in on using the grandchildren’s monikers for their grandparents 🙂
I agree with you, those gifts you received are very precious! I love surprises at Christmas time. This year I was able to surprise my husband with a Carhart winter coat. His old one pretty much fell apart and he threw it away last winter after using it for 20 or more years. He didn’t ask for one to replace it, and every year I try to surprise him at Christmas. Some years I succeed and others not, but when he opened his present he was surprised and thrilled to get his new winter coat. Mind you, he has other winter coats, but he has always loved the Carhart brand for their warmth and quality of product.
That’s the best kind of gift – the kind where thought was actually put into it and love, LOTS of love. No gift card could ever compare to that kind of gift. Corie and Katie are very special daughters. You have a lot to be proud of.
And…this is what Christmas is all about! Tipper, your true treasure in life is those two girls you gave birth to, and I know that you already know that!
I love the presents you got from Chitter! Who is Chitter ?
Timothy-Chatter is Corie and Chitter is Katie 🙂
I think we all wished could do in gift giving just what your girls did – start with something the recipient will value already but then add personalized value to it in some form so it becomes a forever treasure. It us what I try to do but am not good at. Kinda boils down to thoughtfulness, the gift behind the gift.
All you all together have got me thinking this morning. Happens more and more.
How wonderful! Thank you for sharing your gifts with us!!!!
What beautiful, thoughtful gifts.
I love how close you and the girls are. I used to pray for a sister so I would get out of my turn at the dishes. I know now that if I did have one that I would still had my turn at them dishes.